Expenditure for PM’s planned tour shown as Emergency

Mumbai – The December 2016 visit of prime minister Narendra Modi was pre-planned but the State government had to spend from the Emergency Fund for this tour. Though there is a contradiction in both these sentences, there is a reality in it. The State government spent Rs 8 crore on the advertisements for various developmental works to be taken up in Mumbai. This amount was named as emergency expenditure and it was shown the emergency category to get the bills passed. This information has come to fore from the documents of the public works department of the State government.

The government authorities had taken a decision to spend Rs 8 crore for publicity of infrastructural projects like Chhatrapati Shivaji Memorial’s Jalpoojan programme, Metro inauguration, Nhava-Sheva project, laying of new railway lines programme etc. All this expenditure is included in the supplementary grant demands presented by the finance ministry in the Legislature. The PWD has claimed that it was necessary to spend money on the advertisement from the emergency fund.